Charades is fun!

So, I don’t have too long, but I figure I should let you all know about the second half of my trip in Spain.  The trip from Spain to Italy is a tiring one because it is midterm time.  I have one midterm today, another tomorrow, and also two papers due tomorrow.  I have basically had no time to do anything other than eat, sleep and study.  Currently I’m sitting in the Union waiting for my first class to start (Global Studies).  Everyone gets here really early to get a good seat because it’s impossible to see the screen in the majority of the seats.  I normally get in the front row, but today people got here even earlier and I am stuck in the third row with someone really tall in front of me.  You don’t want to hear about all that though…here’s the interesting stuff.

 

So, after getting back from Arcos and Ronda, I was so tired, so instead of going out and doing something I went back to my room and just sat around talking with some people before passing out.  The next morning really early we ran to the train station (literally…we were late) and since I got my ticket that morning and the rest of the people I was with got theirs the night before, I ended up sitting in a different area of the train from them (they assign seats).  There were multiple Sevilla stops, so when we got to the first one I had to ask someone in a panicked voice if I was supposed to get off here.  Luckily someone nearby spoke a little English and told me it was the next stop that I wanted.  For most of the day we were “lost.”  I put that in quotes because we didn’t care that we were lost since the area was gorgeous and our only goal was to eventually go to the Cathedral (which is one of the largest in the world).  After stopping for some lunch (where we saw more SASers), we headed off in a more direct route to the Cathedral, however, by the time we got there, the gates were closing…It was beautiful from the outside, but I am very sad we didn’t get inside.  Instead we turned around and saw a large building that lots of people were going inside and decided to follow.  It took us a few minutes to figure out what we had just gone into, but turns out it was the Alcazar palace (and I believe it was also a convent). In the rooms the walls and ceilings were all covered in mosaics.  The gardens surrounding the palace were also some of the most beautiful I have ever seen.  We ended up spending a few hours in there (partially because towards the end we couldn’t figure out how to get out of the gardens) and then it was time to head back to the train.  We shopped along the way and I got a really pretty dress (which I posted a picture of me in it yesterday.  This time we found the train station really quickly and found that if we had gone directly to the cathedral, it was about a two minute walk.

 

The train ride home was maybe my favorite experience in Spain.  So, this time I was sitting in an entirely different car from my friends.  I sat down in what I thought was my seat (but they have letters for aisle and window seats, so I had to guess which one I was in.  I sat next to the window and sure enough…about a minute after I sit down a man comes over looking rather mad and speaking in Spanish.  I told him in Spanish that I did not speak Spanish and someone nearby told me that I was in his seat.  After she directed me to the seat next to the one I was in, I apologized to the man and he then smiled and all was well for the rest of the trip.  You’re probably all wondering why this trip was so great, but just give me a minute.  I fell asleep once, but dreamt about helado (Spanish ice cream) and I woke up with my mouth open and about to lick the air…I felt at this point it would be best if I stayed awake.  When the man next to me got off the train he smiled at me and said good bye.

 

Shortly after he left, though another slightly younger man came and sat down.  We sat in silence for a while, but when I saw a sign outside that said Cadiz, I panicked and asked him if that was Cadiz.  He explained to me (in hand motions) that Cadiz was three stops away and that I had nothing to worry about.  So, for the rest of the trip we talked about Cadiz, what I was doing here and where I was going next (he spoke no English).  It was a great game of charades!  Occasionally a girl sitting across the aisle from me would translate a word or two that he was saying (she apparently only spoke very little English).  Our conversation lasted about 30 minutes and I think we each got probably about 4 statements in (charades takes too long).  He got off the train and said goodbye, at which time the woman who had been translating words for me started to try and talk with me.  She ended up taking the seat he had been in and although she did not understand most of what I was saying, I had my journal on me with pictures of the ship as well as the countries we were visiting.  It made it much easier.  Explaining to the man that I lived on a boat was very difficult since I could not remember the word for boat (barca), but the journal helped for that too.  When she didn’t understand me for a while two men in front of me (who I did not recognize, but apparently are on the ship with me) translated a little.  It was all very interesting.  When we got off the train she smiled and said good bye (in English and I in Spanish).  When I got off the train I met up with my friends and they proceeded to tell me how awful their trip was on the train.  I was very happy that I was not sitting with them because otherwise I would not have had this conversation in hand gestures.

 

When we got back, we were all so tired that we took showers and Katelyn, another girl (Rachel) and I went out to dinner (Spanish style…which means at 11pm).  We ended up to a restaurant outside of the Cathedral that had tables outside.  It was absolutely incredible to be eating dinner and looking up at this massive building with the moon right behind it.  Since we were all so tired, we decided we’d walk to the water, then turn around and head back.  Sleep felt so good.

 

On the last day my plans changed so many times, but in the end I met up with Lauren (a girl from South Africa) and her friends and we went to the beach and relaxed and wrote postcards.  Then we went into town and shopped a little (I just window shopped) and eventually found a supermarket where I got some cookies and some tea to bring back to the ship.  We had my most delicious and most expensive meal in Spain for lunch.  It was 8 Euro for some incredible gazpacho with bacon and cheese in it and some home made chicken and ham croquets, also a bottle of water and flan was included, but I really hate flan, so I didn’t have any.  After Lunch we wandered back to the ship, sort of sullen, as this was our last time out and about in Spain.  We all got out computers and went out to free internet (which didn’t work well), then got back on the ship and said goodbye to land for three days.  That night I did a lot of home work, but stopped long enough to watch us leave port, then went back to it. 

 

Yesterday we began classes as usual, but the day was odd because for most of the day we were attached to a big ship which was refueling in the straight of Gibraltar.  It was odd to see us surrounded by land and yet not be able to get off.  I did not get any pictures of it, although it was beautiful.  Also, I realized recently that they periodically will be posting pictures on the SAS website.  Currently they only have pictures of departure from Halifax (I’m in one, see if you can see me), but I’m sure they’ll post more at some point.  Here’s the site: http://www.semesteratsea.org/current-voyage/overview/watch-slideshows.php.

 

I also, realized I never told you guys about my “family.”  At the beginning of the voyage we all had the option of signing up to receive a family.  They are people that you can go to if you are having problems and occasionally you have family dinners.  My family, by chance, is one of my professors and her husband and son, as well as 11 other students.  We had our first dinner the night before Spain and then we had another last night.  We are going to meet for dinner to celebrate everyone’s birthday, quarter birthday or half birthday (depending on what you have when you are on the ship).  So, yesterday we had a big ice cream cake to celebrate our “mother’s” and “father’s” “birthdays”.  We will be meeting again the night we get back from Italy for my quarter birthday and 2 other people as well…yum, cake.

 

I hope the weather back home has been nice; Spain was gorgeous but so hot!  I know it will only get warmer.  I have not yet gotten a bad sunburn, but we have not gotten to Egypt yet.  I will post the night before Italy what I will be doing in Italy.  I’m not sure when I’ll have time to figure out what I am doing with my free time, but hopefully I will have some time in there somewhere.  Anyway, I should go off to study a bit.  Enjoy you’re day!